Links to Loyalty
by valentinescloak
Summary: A look at a ten-year old Rufus Shinra and the Turk Tseng.  What is the basis of the bond between Rufus and the leader of the Turks in AC?  Rufus threw himself off the roof without a thought, but his trust in the Turks to save him bore through. NOT yaoi.


**Disclaimer**

**Me: Obviously do not own. Otherwise would be married to Vincent Valentine. Or one of the Remnants. Reno maybe... And of course Zack and Cloud are taken. **

**Yuffie: Hey! **

**Me: *sighs* Yes, Yuffie, I know, you like Vincent. I support Yuffentine. But I can still wish…**

**Rating**

**Eh, there's nothing too bad here I can think of. Language and violence is pretty much nil. And this is most definitely not yaoi. **

~Links of Loyalty~

Tseng took one last glance around plaza, scrutinizing the waiting audience. His radio crackled. "Eagle signing in, all clear."

The dark-haired Turk pressed a button. "Tseng. Copy that. All clear."

Tseng turned his attention to the left as President Shinra walked on to the stage. He watched as the man reached his ten-year old son, Rufus Shinra, who stood straight, hair slicked back. He saw the young boy pull the gold sheet off of the fancy new convertible and present it to his father. The President laughed jovially and squeezed Rufus tightly. The perfect Father's Day gift from the perfect son.

The car must have cost a fortune. The Shinra's might be rich, but Tseng was willing to swear that Rufus had spent an entire year's allowance on it.

Now the President was making a speech, expounding on the special relationship between father and son. Rufus looked up at him, a smile of pure joy on his face. Tseng rarely saw the boy look so happy. Yet some part of all this was a lie.

Two years ago, at the age of eighteen, the skilled and quiet Tseng was assigned as the bodyguard to the young son of the president. He lived 24/7 with the boy, watching him do lessons, accompanying him to his vacation home, teaching him self-defense, and driving him to wherever he needed to be or wanted to go. Tseng liked to think he knew Rufus well. Privately, Tseng wondered if they were friends. Turks didn't usually have friends outside of their own ranks, and besides, they were more of a family then anyway.

At any rate, Tseng swiftly came to realize that his young charge wanted nothing more than to be praised and loved by his father. Rufus almost said as much one day when he had a fever, when he had let his calm and collected exterior slip. But the President was not particularly a family man. The only time he paid any attention to his son was when he was out in public surrounded by cameras. He was all about image and nothing about substance.

So far Rufus hadn't yet seemed to grasp the fact that his father was a lost cause. True, over the past year the boy's face had become more mask-like. It grew hard to read his emotions, and Tseng always listened with relief to the well-chosen barbs the boy often flung at him. They were only half-meant, and any sting was worth it to see the faint smirk on Rufus's face as his Turk protector silently ignored him or made a quiet retort. The boy loved word games. Tseng though Rufus would make a fascinating president someday. That is, as long as Veld's idea about the existence of another heir was wrong.

Coming back to the present moment, Tseng shook his head minutely. Rufus looked so happy right now, as though he had been the receiver of a gift from his father instead of the other way around. As though his dream was achieved and his father truly loved him. Tseng tended to be pessimistic about this. He didn't think it likely.

**v-v-v**

It was fairly late in the evening when Tseng sank into the chair at his desk in Rufus's living quarters. He was incredibly tired. The ceremony in the plaza had attracted hundreds of people and it had been a pain trying to clear a way for Shinra and Rufus. Not to mention the crazy lunatic who had tried to throw a knife at the young boy. Luckily the man had missed by a mile, instead hitting a blond-haired boy named Lazard, who had been standing a couple of yards behind Rufus.

Lazard, though only thirteen, showed great intelligence and was an employee of Shinra, rising quickly in the ranks. There was even talk of involving him in the recent SOLDIER project, so Tseng supposed it was also lucky that he had been hit in a non-vital spot. The would-be assassin tested positive for high alcohol content, and Tseng wondered for a moment if he had had trouble distinguishing between Rufus and Lazard. After all, despite the difference in their ages, Veld had once remarked to him in private that the boys resembled each other somewhat.

These thoughts began to lead Tseng down a strange path, but suddenly he pulled himself out of his reverie. Rufus was in his bedroom right now, changing into more comfortable clothes. He'd probably be hungry. Tseng should cook up some food for him. Rufus's living quarters had a large kitchen all to itself, and Tseng frequently found himself cooking up some of his traditional food from Wutai. Rufus had developed rather a taste for the stuff.

But right now Tseng was tired and he didn't feel like slaving over a stove. The accursed President Shinra, you'd think that today of all days he could spend a little time with his son, take him out to dinner or something. Tseng shook his head. He began to rise from his chair, but something on the desk caught his eye. Two gold cufflinks set with black onyx rested in a small display case under the lamp. Tseng stared. Much as would like, he did not own cuff links like these. He vaguely remembered admiring a pair like them a month ago when he had taken Rufus to a jeweler's to get his Shinra ring refitted. How in the world did they end up on his desk?

Just at that moment Rufus himself wandered into the room. "Tseng?"

The Turk started. "What?"

Rufus smirked at him. "I caught you off guard. Admit it."

Tseng took in Rufus's rumpled white-blond hair that looked as though a squirrel had played in it. He cleared his throat. "Pardon me, but did you—ah—uncomb your hair? Or somehow entangle it when you changed your shirt?"

"Yes," Rufus replied laconically.

"To the first or to the second?" Tseng was amused.

"The first. I only combed my hair this morning because that is how my father likes it."

"Oh…" Tseng decided to turn the subject to a cheerier route. "The President seemed to like his new car."

Suddenly a mask fell over Rufus's face and he turned slightly away from Tseng. "I was sure he would."

The Turk chuckled at the boy's confidence. "Ah, you were sure of it, were you? Pray tell, why?"

Rufus turned toward Tseng, and his eyes glinted strangely. "Well, it would have been pretty stupid of him to buy himself a gift he didn't like."

Tseng froze in shock. He looked down at the young boy before him. "Surely…you're mistaken," he stammered.

The boy glanced at him coolly. "Trust me, I wouldn't have bought that thing for him. Maybe a couple of years ago, but I know better now. It's not like he cares for me. I considered sending him a card telling just how much he means to me as a father, but truthfully he isn't worth the postage. The postage," Rufus spat out. "How many kids have to put a stamp on their father's day cards and mail it across the city because their father doesn't want to bother with them? He isn't worth my time."

Tseng didn't know the right thing to say. "Maybe you're wrong, Rufus," he said softly. "Maybe he does care about you. Don't write him off suddenly because of one mistake he made."

"I'm not. I've realized for almost a year now that all my father cares about is money. He thinks money will get him everything. Soldiers, scientists, countries, loyalty. More money. He thinks it can buy him a son. That's the only reason he's ever given me anything. Well he's wrong. The only reason he wants a son is just so he can say he has one. He can't. Whatever anyone says, I'm not his son, and he's not my father. I hate him."

Rufus finished. His brittle voice chilled Tseng to the bone. The Turk sighed. Rufus had always seemed more like an adult to him than a child, and now the transformation was complete. As a Turk, Tseng wasn't supposed to have much emotion, but now the man felt pity for the boy fill his heart.

"You should be careful where you say such things, Rufus, and to whom. I'm a Turk, and I'm supposed to be loyal to the Shinra company. To your—to the President. What you are saying could be perceived as treasonous, young though you are. Someone might turn you in."

Rufus stood straight and still for a moment, his back to Tseng. "But you won't. Not you." He turned to face the Turk, and strand of hair fell over his eye. "Right?"

The dark-haired man looked at the boy. So young, yet so world-wise. Betrayed in a way by his father, yet willing to trust a Turk of all people.

Suddenly Tseng stepped forward and knelt in front of Rufus, placing his hands on the boy's shoulders. "You may trust me with your life. I'm a Turk, but I'm Rufus Shinra's Turk. If the company has an issue with any actions I take for you or do not take against you, that is their problem. They assigned me to you. Maybe they don't realize what they've done."

Rufus had stiffened for an instant when Tseng first touched him. He didn't like to be touched. He had hated being hugged by his—by the President earlier in the day. But after all, Tseng was special. Rufus kept his voice controlled. "What if you change your mind later?"

"A Turk's loyalty is to the death," Tseng replied.

Rufus raised an eyebrow. "Yet you are changing loyalty from the Shinra company to me."

"Maybe. But if you consider the fact that you are the future of Shinra, you could say that I am looking out of the interests of the company by pledging myself to you. So I am not switching loyalties. I am merely…improving upon them." Tseng smiled slightly.

Rufus looked at the Turk. Tseng held his breath, waiting for the reply. For some reason his entire world seemed to hang on whether or not the boy would give him his trust. Rufus leaned his head slightly towards Tseng's and spoke in an inexorable voice.

"Someday, Tseng, I will be the president of Shinra. I swear to you I'll make you head of the Turks, if you haven't been promoted to that position already. I trust you with everything I have, and I know you won't let me down. You won't."

Suddenly Rufus paused. He looked down towards his left shoulder and then up at Tseng. "Are you going to put the cufflinks on?"

The Turk stared at him. "Cufflinks?" It took Tseng a minute to remember the onyx-embedded links sitting on his desk. "They're not mine; I don't know how they got there."

Rufus reverted to a childish gesture and rolled his eyes. "If they're on your desk, then I'd say they were yours."

Tseng glanced towards the desk. From where he was the case with the cufflinks was blocked by a file holder. He stood up. "There might be a bug or an explosive device in them," he thought aloud.

Rufus was impatient. "Put them on, I want to be sure the onyx matches your suit. Because if it doesn't we'll have to buy you a new one. And hurry, I would like some food. I'm hungry."

Tseng ignored him. "I better call an explosives technician to examine it, just in case. And in the mean time, we should probably leave this room, if not the building."

"Tseng!" Rufus startled the Turk with his interruption. "The cufflinks do not contain bombs or anything other than the onyx," he continued more quietly.

Tseng looked at him, mesmerized. The boy was nervous. He was actually shaking a little. What in the name of the Lifestream—

"They're yours. I bought them for you. I ordered them on the computer. I saw you looking at them in the store." Rufus walked over to the desk and picked up the glass display case. He carried it over to Tseng and thrust it into his hands. "Here. Try them on."

As if in a dream, the Turk obeyed the young boy. The black onyx shone and the links looked perfect against his dark suit. "Rufus…" Tseng paused. Why would Rufus buy him the cufflinks? He looked down and was surprised to see the boy standing directly beside him, looking up with ice-blue eyes.

Suddenly Rufus wrapped his arms about Tseng and pressed his head against his stomach. He spoke in a muffled voice. "Happy Father's Day, Tseng."

The Turk almost choked. Without a doubt this was the last thing he had expected Rufus to do or say. Take that back. He never would have expected it, ever. He wouldn't have even dreamed it. A strange rush of shock, confusion, peace, and love washed over him.

Slowly, Tseng released himself from Rufus's arms. He lowered himself down to his knees and looked at the boy. "Why?" he asked. "I'm not your—not—"

For the first time that Tseng had ever seen, Rufus's face was completely open. The boy was allowing the Turk to witness all of his true emotion. Perhaps it would be the only time, but there it was. Tseng saw pain and fear and hope.

"Because you look after me. Because you're the only one who cares for me. Really cares. To everyone else I'm just a tool, a prize, or a nuisance. Not to you. You ask me what food _I_ like to eat, what movie _I_ want to watch, whether or not _I_ want to go to the company party. I asked to start learning self-defense and you said yes when everyone else said no.

"And then last month…you told me you only had one day off, but I know you lied. You knew I would hate having to go on that cruise with my father, surrounded by reporters and cameras and people who don't care. You used up three of your vacation days just so I could have a friend." Rufus's voice trailed off. He looked at Tseng. "You are my friend, right?" His voice was very quiet. "You know, you're the closest thing I have to a father."

Tseng felt an odd warmth rush to his heart and felt for the first time in his career as a Turk a strange wetness about his eyes. He replied immediately "I'm your bodyguard, your friend, anything you need or want me to be. Always."

He watched Rufus's face as he accepted this, and then the door to the boy's emotions closed to a crack. Tseng suspected that this is the way things would be from now on. The boy was secretive and disliked revealing his emotions. Tseng could empathize with that. Life would continue on as it had before, but there was now an acknowledged connection, a loyalty or a friendship, between the Turk and the boy that would change everything. For instance, should Tseng's mentor and friend Veld come in bringing orders for the assassination of Rufus (for whatever twisted reason of the President's) Tseng knew he would unremorsefully knock the other Turk's lights out. Or worse.

Now, however, Tseng stood up and Rufus stepped back. Rufus gestured to the onyx cufflinks. "You know that onyx signifies certain things."

"I know."

"Hmm."

"I suppose I should make some supper for you."

"I'm not in the mood for your cooking."

The Turk raised an eyebrow. "What exactly is wrong with my cooking?"

"Nothing," Rufus said, a faint smirk highlighting his face. His stomach rumbled. "But all of your recipes take a long time to cook, and I'm hungry now."

"Very well. I'll order a pizza."

**v-v-v**

_Black Onyx Gemstone Meanings_

_Black onyx is used in India to ward off 'the evil eye'. _

_Black Onyx helps stop your energy being drained away. _

_Black Onyx helps with stress. _

_Black Onyx is believed to sharpen the wits of the person wearing the gemstone. _

_Black Onyx is considered the gemstone to "feel better with". _

_Black Onyx helps repel negative energy surrounding others opinions and ideas. _

_Black Onyx is good for entrepreneurs and inventors _

_Black Onyx helps create emotional stability. _

_Black Onyx absorbs and flattens emotions' intensity._

_Black Onyx is used as a worry stone in the Middle East. _

_Black Onyx helps to smooth the "roller coaster of emotions" we all face at times. _

_Black Onyx is said to be helpful in overcoming a past relationship or an unwanted form of love towards somebody. _

_Black Onyx helps you become master of your own fate. _

_Black Onyx guards against negativity. _

_Black Onyx helps eradicate excess energies. _

_Black Onyx can be used as a defense in many disagreements or 'battles'. _

**A.N. Wow! I never thought I would write a story about Tseng and Rufus, though I admit I have read stories about each character. So um, yeah. I tried to make this as canon as I could, but I probably messed some things up since I'm more familiar with AC and DoC than the earlier games. For me, this is sort of about the transition between the Rufus who wants his father's love and attention and the Rufus who despises his father's guts. I thought a ten-year old Rufus would be interesting.**

** And I had to insert Lazard. I think Tseng is pretty awesome, and I've always felt he is extremely loyal. I hope I didn't make him sound too soft, cuz he is a Turk after all. But I like the idea of a father/son type relationship between the Tseng and Rufus. Tseng is supposed to be like Rufus's own personal black onyx gemstone. *lol***

** Whether you liked or disliked the story, please review, I love both flattery and constructive criticism. And the weather is freezing here so I'm even prepared to take on the flames. Just until it warms up a bit. **

** Sorry for the long author's note! Hope the story wasn't too fluffy for you. The idea came to me last night in bed and I couldn't wait until Father's Day to post it. So you get it a couple months ahead of time. **** And just so you know, I think I'm going to do a very short epilogue. **


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